ENGL 112 Nussbaum Response (1)

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  • 7/29/2019 ENGL 112 Nussbaum Response (1)

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    Save Humanity!

    Vincent Li

    Our task is to educate [the students'] whole being so they can face the future, wrote educational

    reformist and author ofThe Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes EverythingSir Ken Robinson.

    This passionate advisor on education explicitly suggests that we are residing in perturbed times where

    society blindly yearns for graduates who complete technical programs - pursuing a practical degree that

    society wants rather than a thoughtful degree which the student is impassioned. In line with the thoughts

    of Mr. Robinson is Professor Nussbaum, a University of Chicago philosopher, who states in a recent

    interview that what were getting now is the demand for a quick fix for economic problems using highly

    applied technical skills. Consequentially, the age-old study of original endeavours and liberal arts issuppressed - or worse, neglected altogether - by world leaders. The evident issue is that these technical

    degrees generally lack the aspect of critical thinking which studies in humanities accentuate, leaving the

    bright minds of tomorrow rich with information but insufficiently funded in the bank of curious thoughts.

    These bright minds have influences from many external sources including the current social order,

    job prospects, and parental impact. Social order illustrates to students that politicians...are demanding a

    greater share of the global economy and are demanding more technical education. Ambitiously, students

    dash towards that attractive neon green ball on their all-fours - as society yells fetch - only to returnwhat the students have so diligently worked towards back into the hands of authority figures. This,

    unfortunately, hinders students from attaining full potential in a field which they ardently gravitate

    towards. Parents want their children to get ahead by cut[ting] the arts and focus[ing] on useful

    marketable skills. In result, the leash around students' necks is pulled increasingly taut. Moreover, the

    dog trainers are whipped whenever the owners or society is dissatisfied. Society and parental figures

    rarely compensate enough in resolution of such a message communicated, sometimes forcibly drilled,

    deep within the minds of students.

    Indeed, the responsibility is placed on parents and the society to recognize that this world cannot

    exist effectively based solely on marketable skills, that operation requires more than simple formulae and

    methods of processing, that studies of thoughtful arguments which constructively criticize are essential to

    the psychological survival of humanity. Their task is to educate the students whole being so they can face

    the future.